Wipro unit moves lighting arm to Pune

It's not just real estate firms that are riding the country's Information Technology and its enabled Services (IT/ITeS) wave, even commercial lighting firms like Wipro Lighting are reaping the economic benefits.

Vineet Agarwal, president, consumer care and lighting - a division of Wipro Ltd - said that a shift in workspace lighting focus from simple and functional to egronomic has thrown up significant business opportunities, for which the company has shifted its lighting control and brightness management unit from Aurangabad to Pune, which will enable it to be able to work closely with the market.

"The country has seen a boom in the IT and ITeS sector and commercial complexes that house these companies are coming up in all major cities. Provision for lighting has to be planned according to the nature of work done and the working hours. Brightness management has therefore become important as the intensity of light cannot be the same all the time," Agarwal said.

The company has developed fittings that offer direct and indirect lighting as a combination.

"Another aspect of office lighting is the bearing it has on the quality of work done. The need for different lighting during day and night shifts in call centres and BPOs has created strong demand for our products," Agarwal added.

Keeping in mind the lighting needs of a workplace at different times, the company has developed 'Scene Select', a solution that controls the entire lighting provision in a hall or a conference room. An important part of the solution is the sensor-based operation that ensures savings in electricity by dimming or switching off lights in a room according to how many people are inside.

Agarwal said the lighting and brightness control market is estimated at around Rs 250 crore, which the company leads with a 30 per cent market share.

Wipro Lighting was awarded the contract to provide lighting for the 26 railway stations of Delhi Metro Railway Corporation which needed very complex design.

"The company is banking on mega infrastructure projects such as the modernisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports and projects such as life science and biotechnology research centres and hospitals," Agarwal said, adding that the oudoors lighting business is also a highly promising opportunity.

"We expect to grow this business at 25 per cent annually," he said. The division has also started modular office furniture business that offers strategic synergies to the lighting business, said Rajesh Kochar, CEO, Wipro Lighting. The company's products have been well received in the market mainly due to their adaptability to customisation.

"We are planning to introduce office chairs as well as larger, complex workstations, which are needed by research organisations and laboratories," Kochhar said.

The division's contribution to the overall turnover of Wipro last year was Rs 472 crore. The estimated sales this year are of Rs 600 crore out of which the division has achieved Rs 435 crore at the end of the nine-month period ended 31 December 2005, Agarwal informed.